A year ago, Apple began selling The Beatles’ catalogue of music on iTunes. Now, twelve months and many millions of downloads later, Apple is giving away The Beatle’s Yellow Submarine as a free ebook.
It’s not just any ebook.

Back in 2009, Stanford University started recording lectures given in its iPhone Application Development course and then placing them on iTunes, making them free for anyone to view. The course hit a million downloads in a matter of weeks, and now, two years later, here’s where we stand.

In late October, Computerworld unearthed a lengthy interview with Steve Jobs originally recorded back in 1995, when Jobs was at NeXT Computer, and still two years away from his triumphant return to Apple.

Apple has posted on its web site the celebration of Steve Jobs’ life that it held last Wednesday. And, at least for me, one of the more poignant moments comes when Norah Jones takes the stage (around the 23 minute mark) and sings a moving version of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young (29 minute mark).

Just a few short weeks after the death of Steve Jobs comes a 627 page biography by Walter Isaacson, the former Managing Editor of TIME and CEO of CNN. Isaacson first discussed writing the book with Jobs seven years ago and has since interviewed the Apple CEO more than 40 times.

Time to resurrect another suddenly relevant item we first mentioned back in 2009…
Between 1968 and 1972, Stewart Brand published The Whole Earth Catalog. For Kevin Kelly, the Catalog was essentially “a paper-based database offering thousands of hacks, tips, tools, suggestions, and possibilities for optimizing your life.

We originally posted this video back in 2009, and it seems like the right time to bring it back. It captures the first of many times that Steve Jobs thrilled audiences with the promise of what technology could deliver. The video takes you back to January 1984, when Jobs demoed the first Macintosh.

No more top hat and handkerchief. Marco Tempest uses iPods and iPhones to create magic for the 21st century. He calls himself a techno-illusionist. “I explore the borders between technology and magic,” says Tempest, “between what’s incredibly real and incredibly not.” Originally from Switzerland, Tempest now lives in New York City.

Every so often, we like to bring back a favorite talk of ours, and today seemed like a better day than most. Speaking at Stanford’s commencement in 2005, Steve Jobs gives the graduates a glimpse of his life philosophy. Some pearls of wisdom here for the young, to be sure.

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About Us

Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.